Lords and ladies, a last huzzah[Times photo: Carrie Pratt] For four and 20 years, people have come to Largo for the Renaissance Festival. But alas, its time in the fast-growing city has come to a close.

North Pinellas County newsLegal drugs kill, too Agencies step up education and monitoring efforts as deaths from prescription overdoses climb.

Dumping plan alarms spongers An already ailing industry fears a plan to dump a phosphate plant's wastewater in the gulf would snuff out the last of the sponges.

Editorial: Showing our pride without shabbiness It's nice to see a resurgence of patriotism among local residents in the last couple of weeks. Though opinions about the wisdom of going to war with Iraq were divided, most people seem able to support the troops and feel pride in a nation that could, in just a few weeks' time, liberate another from the decades-long grip of a cruel tyrant.